0 comment Tuesday, October 7, 2014 | admin
There is a particular breed of 'conservative' whose main claim to conservatism is their penny-pinching proclivities. For these 'conservatives', the only thing they are truly interested in conserving is their bank accounts. This, unfortunately, contributes to the popular stereotype of conservatives or Republicans as money-grubbers and Scrooges, who will jump over a dollar to save a nickel.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not profligate with money; I like a bargain as much as the next, provided the 'bargain' does not come with a hidden price tag, or concealed costs. And I like value for my money; just saving a buck (or even a matter of cents) doesn't do much for me if I am getting shoddy merchandise for my money. That's being pennywise and pound-foolish. If I buy a cheap item and have to repair it or replace it before I get my money's worth, it was no bargain.
I've found that to make many 'conservatives' (or more accurately, Republicans) spitting mad, all you have to do is to disparage Wal-Mart.
When I first learned that Wal-Mart is a religion to many on the 'right', I was truly baffled. I mean, the 'low, low prices' are understandably attractive to many people, but why do some on the right defend Wal-Mart with more passion than they would defend their mother or their country or their flag or their religion? Notice, the next time you visit one of those 'conservative' mega-forums or blogs: any story which is critical of Wal-Mart is sure to draw scores of impassioned and angry responses. Why?
My best guess is that they are on fire for Wal-Mart mostly because 'the liberals' supposedly hate Wally-World. And if the 'liberals' hate it, then by golly, it's as sacred as the American flag. To be anti-Wal-Mart is to bring into question one's conservative credentials. If you don't love Wal-Mart, you don't love America, or free enterprise.
I haven't been a Rush Limbaugh listener in recent times, but I suspect he is a Wal-Mart zealot. Anything 'the liberals' criticize, he defends, in the most vociferous terms. That's what being a 'conservative' is all about, apparently, to Rush and his most devoted listeners. The liberals say white, you say black. It's simple; anyone can catch on. The liberals hate SUVs. so Republicans are supposed to angrily defend SUVs. See? Easy, right?
I admit to having bought Wal-Mart merchandise; I'm not so doctrinaire that I shun the place altogether. The main reason I avoid shopping there is that the things I have bought there were badly-made Chinese stuff, and on principle, I'd rather buy American-made. That's becoming harder and harder to do, though, as this country manufactures fewer and fewer things, and we become ridiculously, almost obscenely dependent on China and other third-world sources for our goods. And the fact is, very few of the things they make compare to American-made goods, at least in the days when America produced real quality merchandise. I like things which are made well, reliable, made to last. I don't like cheap tat that has to be thrown away a week or a month from now, and replaced. I don't like the disposable, throw-away society that we've become. I'd gladly pay a little more for the things that matter, like quality clothes and appliances. Maybe for some things, disposable is fine, but for many things, quality is more important than price.
And I would also prefer to support American companies, though that's becoming less possible all the time.
But I am considering boycotting Wal-Mart, when I read, in this Chronicles Magazine article, about Wal-Mart's habit of supporting leftist, subversive organizations:
According to the Capital Research Center, the corporate side of the Walton empire shoveled nearly $750,000 to leftists in 2004, compared with $2,500 to ''conservatives.'' None of this, of course, shows up on the foundation�s website. Among the recipients were the NAACP ($60,850), AARP ($3,750), the Izaak Walton League ($2,250), LULAC ($12,000), the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation ($10,000), and Planned Parenthood ($2,500). The biggest recipient of Wal-Mart money? The National Council of La Raza, at a cool $630,000.
La Raza (''The Race'') is the radical ''Latino'' organization that is aiding and abetting, by supporting illegal immigration, the Mexican reconquista of the American Southwest. La Raza is uprooting English as the national language, plowing under American history and heroes, and planting Mexican-''Latino'' culture, like so much maize, in the fertile ground of American public schools.'
I'm also aware that Wal-Mart has employed illegals, or used contractors who employed illegals. In any case, they do not have the interests of local communities or of America at heart. They are the epitome of the conscienceless globalist corporation, and that philosophy is behind the real threat to America, via open borders, outsourcing, multiculturalism, and all the rest.
So Wal-Mart is akin to McDonald's: It is the apotheosis of everything wrong with America. Entering the maw of a Wal-Mart is creepy. Any normal person over the age of 40 viscerally feels, as the cornucopia of junk and tatterdemalion illegal immigrants who shop there deluge his eyes, that something is horribly wrong beneath the garish consumerism and materialism. Well, something is wrong. The company knows no loyalty.''
That sums up my visceral feelings very well. I like the phrase, 'cornucopia of junk'. I think it characterizes much of our 'culture' these days: we've got a surfeit, a glut of many things, choices galore -- but most of it junk, worthless.
And if the hidden cost of those bargains includes supporting illegal immigration and the Reconquista, along with other leftist causes, saving those few pennies or dollars is more expensive than our country can afford.
Wal-Mart's vision is not what America should be. And the 'cornucopia of junk' may well be the 'mess of pottage' we are getting in exchange for our American birthright.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not profligate with money; I like a bargain as much as the next, provided the 'bargain' does not come with a hidden price tag, or concealed costs. And I like value for my money; just saving a buck (or even a matter of cents) doesn't do much for me if I am getting shoddy merchandise for my money. That's being pennywise and pound-foolish. If I buy a cheap item and have to repair it or replace it before I get my money's worth, it was no bargain.
I've found that to make many 'conservatives' (or more accurately, Republicans) spitting mad, all you have to do is to disparage Wal-Mart.
When I first learned that Wal-Mart is a religion to many on the 'right', I was truly baffled. I mean, the 'low, low prices' are understandably attractive to many people, but why do some on the right defend Wal-Mart with more passion than they would defend their mother or their country or their flag or their religion? Notice, the next time you visit one of those 'conservative' mega-forums or blogs: any story which is critical of Wal-Mart is sure to draw scores of impassioned and angry responses. Why?
My best guess is that they are on fire for Wal-Mart mostly because 'the liberals' supposedly hate Wally-World. And if the 'liberals' hate it, then by golly, it's as sacred as the American flag. To be anti-Wal-Mart is to bring into question one's conservative credentials. If you don't love Wal-Mart, you don't love America, or free enterprise.
I haven't been a Rush Limbaugh listener in recent times, but I suspect he is a Wal-Mart zealot. Anything 'the liberals' criticize, he defends, in the most vociferous terms. That's what being a 'conservative' is all about, apparently, to Rush and his most devoted listeners. The liberals say white, you say black. It's simple; anyone can catch on. The liberals hate SUVs. so Republicans are supposed to angrily defend SUVs. See? Easy, right?
I admit to having bought Wal-Mart merchandise; I'm not so doctrinaire that I shun the place altogether. The main reason I avoid shopping there is that the things I have bought there were badly-made Chinese stuff, and on principle, I'd rather buy American-made. That's becoming harder and harder to do, though, as this country manufactures fewer and fewer things, and we become ridiculously, almost obscenely dependent on China and other third-world sources for our goods. And the fact is, very few of the things they make compare to American-made goods, at least in the days when America produced real quality merchandise. I like things which are made well, reliable, made to last. I don't like cheap tat that has to be thrown away a week or a month from now, and replaced. I don't like the disposable, throw-away society that we've become. I'd gladly pay a little more for the things that matter, like quality clothes and appliances. Maybe for some things, disposable is fine, but for many things, quality is more important than price.
And I would also prefer to support American companies, though that's becoming less possible all the time.
But I am considering boycotting Wal-Mart, when I read, in this Chronicles Magazine article, about Wal-Mart's habit of supporting leftist, subversive organizations:
According to the Capital Research Center, the corporate side of the Walton empire shoveled nearly $750,000 to leftists in 2004, compared with $2,500 to ''conservatives.'' None of this, of course, shows up on the foundation�s website. Among the recipients were the NAACP ($60,850), AARP ($3,750), the Izaak Walton League ($2,250), LULAC ($12,000), the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation ($10,000), and Planned Parenthood ($2,500). The biggest recipient of Wal-Mart money? The National Council of La Raza, at a cool $630,000.
La Raza (''The Race'') is the radical ''Latino'' organization that is aiding and abetting, by supporting illegal immigration, the Mexican reconquista of the American Southwest. La Raza is uprooting English as the national language, plowing under American history and heroes, and planting Mexican-''Latino'' culture, like so much maize, in the fertile ground of American public schools.'
I'm also aware that Wal-Mart has employed illegals, or used contractors who employed illegals. In any case, they do not have the interests of local communities or of America at heart. They are the epitome of the conscienceless globalist corporation, and that philosophy is behind the real threat to America, via open borders, outsourcing, multiculturalism, and all the rest.
So Wal-Mart is akin to McDonald's: It is the apotheosis of everything wrong with America. Entering the maw of a Wal-Mart is creepy. Any normal person over the age of 40 viscerally feels, as the cornucopia of junk and tatterdemalion illegal immigrants who shop there deluge his eyes, that something is horribly wrong beneath the garish consumerism and materialism. Well, something is wrong. The company knows no loyalty.''
That sums up my visceral feelings very well. I like the phrase, 'cornucopia of junk'. I think it characterizes much of our 'culture' these days: we've got a surfeit, a glut of many things, choices galore -- but most of it junk, worthless.
And if the hidden cost of those bargains includes supporting illegal immigration and the Reconquista, along with other leftist causes, saving those few pennies or dollars is more expensive than our country can afford.
Wal-Mart's vision is not what America should be. And the 'cornucopia of junk' may well be the 'mess of pottage' we are getting in exchange for our American birthright.
Labels: Conservatives, Wal-Mart